Month: July 2013

I am the type of person who loves to workout on vacation. I don’t know why but I love to head to the hotel gym or get outside for a run around our destination. I actually enjoy working out MORE on vacation than I do at home. It’s weird, I know.

However, this mini-vacation I didn’t workout at all. Not one bit. I didn’t even bring workout gear with me! I felt a little guilty as I packed up our bags, leaving behind our running shoes and workout clothes but ultimately I knew we probably wouldn’t even use them. We headed out last Thursday for on a cross country flight to Virginia for the wedding of our dear friends Catherine and Andy. Knowing that Thursday we would be traveling all day and Sunday we would as well It seemed the probability that we would workout was slim to Friday morning.

This brings me to m question how do you decide whether or not to bring workout gear with you on a trip? For me if the trip is drive-able I will bring workout gear regardless of the length of our stay because a pair of shoes and a few workout outfits doesn’t take up that much space. Most of the time I will use them as well! If thetrip is longer than five days. A trip lasting more than five days means that I am going to have to pack our bigger suitcases which means that I have more room to bring workout gear. Plus I really don’t want to put a workout off for five days either. Lastly, regardless of length or mode of transportation if we are headed somewhere that we plan to be active ie. the forest or the beach (basically not the city) then I bring workout gear.

So I do not bring workout gear with me if the trip is less than five days and we are flying (one exception is a active trip). If we are headed to a city I know I am going to get my walk on and will only be there for a few days then I just make sure at least bring a pair of good walking shoes.

So tell me do you enjoy working out on vacation? What are your “rules” for vacation workout packing?

So we may not have worked out on this trip but we got a lot of walking done around Charlottesville on Friday (a good four miles). We also got a little dancing on at the wedding on Saturday and did a good amount of walking on Sunday in DC before we headed to the airport for our flight.

My life has gone from afternoon runs, evening yoga sessions and late night drinks to early morning wake-ups, afternoon playdates and late night nursing sessions. The one thing that hasn’t changed is my need for healthy living and hydration.

I try to eat well 80% of the time although some weeks it’s more like 70% and other weeks it’s 60% and rare weeks it’s 90%. Whats most important though is balance. I try not to stress, recognize my short comings and remember that every day is a chance to make improvements.

I also try to make an effort to do some sort of workout 5x/week. I try to run, do HIIT workouts or other strength 3-4x/week and attempt to fit in an at home yoga session 1-2x/week even if it’s only 15-20 minutes. I am having a hard time doing yoga at home and am going to try the new yoga studio down the road once we return from our cross country trip. I feel so much more refreshed and recharged after I a studio yoga practice, there really is nothing like it. Do you prefer yoga at home or in a studio?

Along with eating well and working out most of the time I try and drink at least 64oz of water per day but with working out and nursing I strive to drink closer to 100oz per day. It’s true what they say that nursing makes you constantly thirsty! Since I am nursing and working out and we have been having a crazy hot summer water is essential. I am also always on the go with Edith though I have to make sure that I take water with me so lately I’ve been bringing resource® Natural Spring Water with me. This water has the extra perk of being 100% naturally sourced spring water, has naturally occurring electrolytes- woohoo electrolytes, am I right? I’ll be sad when my stash is gone!

My path to electrolytenment involves staying healthy, focused and active because for me to be awake and present in all aspects of my life I need to also take time for these things. Being healthy means eating well, staying hydrate (enter resource® Natural Spring Water), working out and making time for things that I am passionate about.

What is on your path to electrolytenment?

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I also feel like I have lost my running mojo. I was doing an amazing job running 3-5x per week and I even trained and ran my first quarter marathon back in May. Now May has come and gone and it’s nearly August and I can count on two hands how many runs I have been on. I honestly have been feeling burnt out. I kind of dipped my toe into postpartum running back in November but didn’t really take the plunge until January and then I was in full force. Rookie mistake? I’d say so.

I had grand plans of running a number of races this summer and early fall and honestly I don’t see it happening. I haven’t been running or training and I am surely not ready to run a race in two or three weeks. I do have one in late September that I am planning on getting myself together and actual train for. I had planned to run the 10k but am thinking of dropping down to the 5k to avoid another burn out.

I love running but I am having a hard time making time for training. We move to a new home in a new area in October and I am hoping this will be a place we stay for awhile. It will be closer to Neil’s work so I will actually have the ability and time to run before or after he goes to/gets out of work. We will also be in an area where I can join a gym and make time to go during the week so this winter on days when I don’t want to go outside and run I can make time to run on the dreadmill and keep it up. I am hoping that next year will be my year to run my first half.

So until October comes I’m going to work on training for my 5k in September and I am going to do my own RWT Healthy Challenge which is to run one mile per day in August. I need to get back into things but don’t want to over do it. I want to crave running rather than dread it. Has anyone else gone through this? What are your tips? How did you get your running mojo back?

They’re BAAAAACK! Yes the RWT Healthy Challenges are back! After two months off I have to say I have missed them and they needed to make a come back a month earlier than planned. I can’t be the only one who felt like these really helped with keeping up the motivation to workout regularly, right?

Cheers to an awesome month of running! Now let’s do this!

Well anyways here we are at the end of July and after the Fourth of July BBQ’s and too many s’mores camping it’s really time to get back at it. For me it’s time to get back to running, seriously. I know I have been super quiet on the running front lately and that’s because I just haven’t been. There I said it. I haven’t been running. Not one mile this entire month. So that’s where this challenge got it’s inspiration, I need to run so I am challenging myself and you to get out and run too.

So remember when I wrote about creating mini running goals last month? Well we are going to focus on the most basic of them all, the GET OUT AND RUN! This August I want you to join me in running one mile every day. Now you might be saying um but I can’t even run one mile right now and that’s okay! You can start off with run/walk intervals try 30sec/30sec and gradually increase your run and decrease your walk time. So really anyone can do this challenge!

How it will work:

August 1st–> this is the start date of this challenge. I also want you to go ahead and just for fun see how fast you can run one mile. Make sure to record this in a spreadsheet that you will be sending me at the end of this challenge as proof of completion.

August 2nd-30th–> get out there and run AT LEAST one mile every day in August. You can run more miles if you’d like but your minimum goal is to run or run/walk one mile everyday. Make sure to record it in your spreadsheet! You don’t have to record a time but if you’d like to feel free!

August 31st–> This is the last day of the challenge so get out there and just like on August 1st see how fast you can run one mile. How did you do? Were you faster? Do you feel stronger? Record it!

September 1-4th–> Send me your spreadsheet! All of you who complete the challenge will be entered to win an awesome prize pack from Bob’s Red Mill. Why Bob’s Red Mill? I know it has nothing to do with fitness or running but I went to the factory last week and picked up some awesome items for a giveaway and so I decided to use them for this giveaway!

Social Media:

Not required but if you’d like to Instagram or Tweet while you do this challenge you can use the hash tag #RWTRUNAMILE and my IG and Twitter are both @runwithtongs

Before having a baby I had a pretty solid routine that allowed me to balance my day job, blogging, freelancing and being a loving wife, partner and friend. I would spend my mornings making breakfast and lunch for Neil and I and would catch up on e-mails. I would go to my office job and then I would come home in the afternoon, workout, catch up on e-mails and work on blog items or freelance work. Early evenings were spent with Neil and/or friends enjoying dinner or a drink or going to some event. Late evenings I caught up on a little more work and then it was time for bed so I could sleep and do it all over again.

Balancing life and work–> Edith with me at my blog conference a few weeks ago

Well needless to say times have changed. I no longer have an office job and I am not just a wife, partner and friend but a mom. To top it off I am a stay-at-home mom and a part-time work-at-home mom. When Edith was tiny and slept all the time I found the transition from working at home with no baby to working at home with a baby really easy transition. Even despite being a little more sleep deprived I was still able to find time to balance my freelance gigs, blogging, keeping house, being a mom and being a wife, partner and friend.

Here we are a year later and let me tell you I am working hard to keep the balance in my life. Edith is on the go and is just days away from walking and then of course running so my hands are full in mommyland. Now I still have blogging and freelance gigs to stay on top of and I have a house that is always in need of cleaning, oh and I am still a wife, partner and friend. Being able to find balance with everything is challenging at times but with a few easy steps I am able to (for the most part):

1. Prioritize. One of the biggest things for me is prioritizing me time. I make a list at the start of the week or the day if I am able to of everything I want to accomplish and then I take a look at it and see what five things take priority. I choose five things because If I can get one major item accomplished each day of the week then that is great. When I try to do more than that I often don’t complete everything.

2. Make time for me. When Edith was little I never made enough time for me and by the end of the month I was burnt out. I was cranky and overwhelmed and ready to burst. Now I make sure to take at least 10-15 minutes once Neil is home to make time for me to do something that I enjoy.

3. Ask for help. Sometimes you just need help. I wish I was superwoman but last time I checked there was no shiny cape hanging in my closet so instead I delegate and ask for help. It can be a real struggle at times to ask for help because it makes us feel like we are admitting we can’t do everything but honestly we can’t do everything so find someone who supports you and ask them to help. It could be as much as asking a family member to pick up a few grocery essentials when they are out or having a friend come over and watch you baby so you can meet a deadline.

4. Say ‘No’. It’s okay to say no. This is one thing that I have really had to work on because when you have blogging or freelance gigs being handed out to you it is really hard to turn them down. In the end I often have to because from experience if I take on too many at one time I either miss a deadline or do a half-assed job.

5. Be Flexible. Flexibility is essential for me to keep the balance in my life. For example recently Neil took a new position at a new company that now has him commuting 2-3 hours per day. This was a huge change for me since prior to this he had been commuting 25-35 minutes per day. Suddenly I couldn’t work in the mornings and the evenings are a little shorter since he gets home so much later so I am having to reevaluate things to find a new balance that works with this change. We have another move coming up, just a short one closer to Neil’s new job, and when that happens I’ll have to reconfigure my balance again.

I’d like to say that I am always able to keep perfectly balanced but there are many days where work takes over or being a mom takes priority. I think balance is something that takes time and work to maintain but as I said above you need to be flexible as well because just when we start to get comfortable life changes.

How do you keep the balance in your life? Do you have any of your own tips to share?

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I’m back! I know I have been a little MIA lately but things have been a little crazy with week before Fitbloggin followed by two weeks of house guests but I’m back! I have a an overflowing inbox and lots of house work to catch up on but first I wanted to tell you all about something I did two weeks ago. I did CrossFit!

Okay so lets break this all down. I was at Fitbloggin and I was supposed to get up and go to 6am yoga and well that never happened. then I was supposed to get up for 8am trampoline workout and well that didn’t happen. Let’s just say we had a really rough night with the baby and sleep took over. finally I was up at 8:30 and decided that well I since I didn’t go to my first two workouts that I should go to the CrossFit one at 9am. Now I hadn’t planned to do this one and frankly I was petrified to do it but since Reebok had nicely provided us with some Nano 2.0 CrossFit shoes that I should probably go try them out.

I headed downstairs for a small cup of coffee and fruit and chatted with some of the other ladies. At this point I was really psyching myself out when it came to this CrossFit workout but instead of scurrying to back upstairs to my bed and my baby I headed to CrossFit. Luckily I found a few other ladies who were just as nervous as I was, this made me feel better! I also was feeling much better when I knew i wouldn’t be doing pullups or flipping tires.

We got started by lining up behind various local CrossFit instructors who would be there to help give us any necessary direction and support. We first had a bit of a pep talk and brief orientation to CrossFit and I instantly started to feel more relaxed. We did a warm up and then it was time to get down to the real workout. We were to do 5 push-ups, 7 sit-ups and 9 air squats, as many as we could in 4-minutes. We were walked through the routine with modifications and then it was go time. As soon as everyone started going I almost forgot anyone else was in the room; I was so focused on doing the workout that I didn’t even notice anyone else, which really made things easier.

By the end of the CrossFit workout I was feeling pretty humbled since I honestly struggled through the whole workout, doing most of the modifications, however I also felt really accomplished for actually going there and doing the workout. It wasn’t as intimidating as I had created in my mind. I don’t think I’ll be joining a CrossFit gym anytime soon but I do have to say I enjoyed it. I also wish I had read this post before doing my first CrossFit WOD.

Disclaimer: Sambazon sent me coupons for their Superfood Smoothies for review. As always all opinions are my own! Also I am such a super fan of Samabzon now that I would have done the review even without the coupons. Seriously addicted.

Have you ever come across that one product that you sample and then become addicted to? I honestly haven’t found that many in all of my years of sampling that I have come to love as much as Sambazon Superfood Smoothies. I actually first became a fan of Sambazon Acai Bowls from my favorite local juice and smoothie joint and then I started making my own acai bowls at home. As much as I love making my own Sambazon Acai smoothies and bowls just like anything it takes time to make them. Then a few months ago Sambazon sent me a few coupons for a free sample of their bottled superfood smoothies. I was a little skeptical about prepackaged smoothies but I figured I’d give them a shot, heck it was free right?

One sip and I was instantly addicted. Honestly I fell in love. I actually didn’t even use my two other free coupons for a few months because I am terrible at remembering to bring coupons with me to the market and yet you could (and can) still find me buying them at least once per week but honestly it’s more like twice. Now I have tried a number of the flavors but I keep going back to the mocha java, the breakfast blend and the supergreens.

The smoothies are creamy and seriously so tasty. The mocha java is like the best creamy iced coffee you could ever have plus it filled with superfoods like acai and yerba mate. It has become my go to post run beverage. Although it’s called the breakfast blend I really love it anytime of the day especially as an afternoon pick me up. It is filled with chia seeds, amaranth, quinoa and is nice and sweet from the strawberries and banana. Lastly you have the supergreens which has kale and ginger in it and Amazing Grass superfood greens! I really love this one with a light lunch.

After writing this post I could really go for a mocha java but since I’m off the caffeine this week I guess I will have to pick a breakfast blend or supergreens tomorrow instead. It’s time to restock my fridge!

Have you tried these smoothies before? If yes what is your favorite flavor?

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